I don't want to chince on the scope but don't want to spend more than I need to for a good one. What are the opinions here of Cabela's scopes vs Leupold? I've heard the they are made in the same factory.

First - when a scope has an adjustable objective lense, do you have to focus it for different distances?

The thing most folks call focus is not actually a focus feature. This feature is actually the parallax adjustment. If you're going to be shooting and expect/require above average accuracy you should adjust the parallax before you shoot.

Large objective lenses can and often do change the position of the cheek on the rifle. I always add a cheekpiece to the rifle to allow me to rest my cheek on the rifle and see directly through the scope without using any neck muscles to compensate for a poor fit.

Optics... don't scimp on optics. Get the one you trust or most used by folks doing what you desire to do. Any of the scopes you mentioned would probably only be a interum scope and you'll end up trading it off for a better scope later. Save youself some money and trouble and get a better quality scope with adjustable target turrets.

First off you need to decide what is long range. If it means inside 500yds, almost any scope will have the internal adjustment to work. If you mean 1000yds and beyond, there are very few choices that are going to "work".

Leupold has some very good optics and if I could not look through the scope, I would choose the Leupold over the Cabela's. However, there are other choices.

Bushnell Elite 3200 and 4200 are the best bang for the buck as far as optics and adjustment (repeatable) go. At least for my eyes. They have the standard amount of adjustment (around 50MOA). If you need more, then the Tasco SS 10X42 is excellent. The Elite 3200 10X is very well priced. Of course, there are the more expensive Leupolds, IOR, Burris, etc long range models.

The AO works just like a camera lens and you must adjust for different distances. This process eliminates parallax error. Of course, a scope with a big bell is going to sit higher off the stock. But if you need the scope, you simply have to adjust the stock to fit.

If you want a walk about rifle, a 3X9 or 2.5X10 is all you are going to need for big game out to 800yds+. Wouldn't want a high mag AO scope on a "hunting" rifle. What happens when the game shows up 50yds in front of you?

For a bench rifle or a varmint gun, a little more mag can help. If the scope has good optics, you will be amazed at how far you can accurately aim with a 10X scope. How about a clay pigeon at 1000yds? For shots way past 1000yds, higher mag is something you can investigate.

Spend some time at this site reading the different posts about hunting styles and equipment. This stuff here is way different then common knowledge. Get a feeling for what you really want to accomplish with your equipment and then the scope choice will become clear.

AZ-
The Leupold 6-18 with target turrets is a very good scope for the money. I have one on a long range varmint rifle and love it. It tracks perfectly (a scopes most important feature in my opinion) and is fairly inexpensive. I can shoot to 1200 yards using a tapered base that has 15 minutes built in.

Thanks to everyone for the input so far. Just to clarify, my primary use for the gun will be hunting coues deer (very small whitetails) in the open desert. Cross- canyon shots are the norm and shots out to 500 yards are not at all uncommon - although most who take them have not practiced adequately at that range.

It is starting to sound like a good Leupold fixed objective may be just the ticket.

I have two Leupold LR scopes and am very happy with them. I thought about scopes less expensive before my purchases, but after spending the money I have not regretted it....and I have no feelings of ever wanting to replace them someday with something better.